Roehl travel column: Museum preserves relics of old churches

Our Lady of Perpetual Help Old Adobe Mission in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Editor's note: Carl and Janet Roehl of Grand Rapids traveled to the Southwest in early 2013 and shared a number of columns and photos from their trip. This has been edited for space. To read the full column, log on to your local newspaper website.

An unusual religious museum full of religious artifacts was another surprise as we meandered off the beaten path through Iowa. And in New Mexico, we saw the oldest mission in the U.S. and other interesting churches. Meanwhile, the process of selecting Pope Francis was on news reports.

The Museum of Religious Arts near Logan, Iowa, was started in 1994 by Paul and Helen Lovels. Attending Mass at a new church, they realized how much church history was lost from small parishes that were closing and as a result of the liturgical changes following Vatican II: the high altars at the front of church, old statues and stained glass windows, artwork, books, pump organs, communion rails, patens, wooden floors (now tile or carpet), unpadded kneelers, wainscot. "Our grandchildren will never know what old churches were like," they lamented.

Displays include various religions, such as Martin Luther writings, a Jewish synagogue, Methodist display and a stone from a Mormon temple. While many items are from Iowa churches, others are from other states, the Middle East, Africa, New Guinea, Ethiopia, Alaskan Eskimo and Papago Indian artifacts.

Nun dolls show the habits from convents around the world. Priest vestment types and colors are shown as they evolved over decades. Stained glass windows above the entrance were made in Italy a century ago and had been at Boys Town in Omaha, Neb.

San Miguel in Santa Fe is the oldest mission in the U.S. This Spanish colonial mission church, was built in 1610 and rebuilt several times. A massive bell, believed to be from 1856, is displayed along with antique statues.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help Old Adobe Mission is "the oldest standing church in Scottsdale," with construction started in the 1910s by Mexicans who settled the land. Adobe bricks - 14,000 - were hand-made by mixing native clay, hay, soil and water. The 15 stained glass windows were handcrafted from discarded glass from St. Augustine's Cathedral in Tucson. Outgrown by 1956, the mission was closed and a new church opened elsewhere. Restoration began in 2007.

Perhaps typical of many Southwest parishes, St. James Catholic Church, Coolidge, Ariz., is an interesting conglomerate of Hispanics, Native Americans and "snowbirds." We talked with visitors from New York and Michigan. Coincidentally, we arrived at Sunday Mass on the day of the Fiesta. The pre-Lenten celebration - outside - was on a shorts and shirt-sleeves February day; back in central Wisconsin at about the same time, the church was celebrating Winterfest - inside!

San Felipe de Neri Parish, on the plaza in Albuquerque, operating since 1706, is the oldest church in New Mexico. St. Francis Cathedral in Santa Fe, also has a large religious gift shop. The nearby, Loretto Chapel with the famed, "miraculous" staircase, was closed this trip.

The chapel at the base of the Superstition Mountains, amid the Cholla (Teddy Bear) cacti looked like a place of quiet meditation. But learning its name should alert visitors to what's inside - the Elvis Presley Memorial Chapel. Where an altar normally would be, there's a statue of "The King" ? of rock 'n' roll, strumming with wagging hips. Stained glass windows are covered with posters for various movies made in the area.

The chapel and adjacent barn are the only survivors of Apacheland movie ranch fires in 1969 and 2004. They were reconstructed at the Superstition Mountain Lost Dutchman Museum. The chapel was in the background in the Elvis movie "Charo." Among stars filming at Apacheland were Ronald Reagan, Kenny Rogers, Elvis, Henry Fonda; Marty Robbins (in "Guns of a Stranger"); and the "Have Gun Will Travel" and "Death Valley Days" TV series.

Little St. Francis church in Globe, N.M., was a unique worship experience for us last year. We passed it along the Turquoise Trail from Madrid to Albuquerque, just as the service was to begin. Mostly Hispanic and Native Americans, with robust Mexican guitars and Spanish hymns. So narrow is the one-aisle church that at Communion, goers and comers must slip into pews to pass. Friendly Father Francis O'Malley, of Irish descent, also had served the Cerrillo parish before retiring. That St. Francis Church reminded us of the little St. Francis church in Arpin, where we had been married. It has been closed and demolished.

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Roehl travel column: Museum preserves relics of old churches

Editor's note: Carl and Janet Roehl of Grand Rapids traveled to the Southwest in early 2013 and shared a number of columns and photos from their trip. This has been edited for space. To read the full

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